Progression Series Ep.4 - Finishing Yellow Maps - Path of Exile [3.26]

-----PoB 1----- I used Ethereal Knives in the early levels, then quickly swapped to Freezing Pulse. I used Freezing Pulse until I got Wintertide Brand and Creeping Frost from the vendor. -> This is where I switched to Cold DoT. I replaced Creeping Frost with Vortex once I got Vortex from the vendor, then I replaced Wintertide Brand with Vaal Cold Snap. Before respec tree - The basic starting tree, without any respec-ing. Points can be taken in any order. I rushed Mysticism, then Vampirism. Vaal Caress is a broken Cold DoT leveling item. Socket Vaal Cold Snap in here. Dual Rune Dagger Setup with Whirling Blades is super fast, especially with Vaal Caress. Price: Daggers - 2c total Vaal Caress - 1c unique Other gear - SSF gear -----PoB 2----- Spent 10c for Fated End, the most OP ring in the game for Cold DoT. Compared to Doedre's Damning or Anathema, Fated End provides certain upsides, such as: - much more dps than a perfect fractured hellical ring and much more dps than the other 2 ring options - enables Bane as a curse trigger skill, which doesn't reduce curse effect anymore with this ring and instead, the curses have more ramp time - enables the curse mastery "Non-Cursed Enemies you inflict Non-Aura Curses on are Blinded for 4 seconds" -> 100% consistent while mapping ; huge defensive layer early - bane feels SOOO GOOD to use ( you cast 2-3 curses at once ) -> BIG QoL and speed ; my build can do sanctum runs due to this - my build has a 4L setup as follows: Bane, Hex Bloom + 2 curses -> the setup with other 2 rings won't have hex bloom, which is a big drop in QoL and speed - you can focus on damaging curses entirely or a combination of defence/offence -> this setup is still superior to the other 2 ring options, because that specific defensive curse is giga boosted ( you double down on 1 specific type of curse, rather than getting enfeeble + temp chains together or just 1 of them ). Downsides: - skill issue ( if Bane is recasted while a boss is already cursed, then the curse effect won't ramp up to maximum and it resets to 0 curse effect bonus -> you lose dps!! ) - no good suffixes are present on this ring ( besides some %ES from intelligence ) -> no resists, a bit painful to fix - bane needs to be recasted more frequently ( curse duration is uselles with this ring ) You can't invest into curse effect points on the tree, because the ring already ramps up curse effect to a certain maximum ( you have to use alternative damage points ). -> this can be an upside or a downside, depending how you build your character. For me it's an upside, because I already invest into cluster jewel setups. About the "Curse Duration Expired on Enemy" PoB Config setting: It's set to 3, because with perfect rolls, this ring gives 120% bonus curse effect to each curse. Those curses ramp up to maximum in 6 seconds. To obtain the accurate consistent dps, we have to do: (220-100)/2 = 60% consistent curse effect dps, which is obtained in 6/2 = 3 seconds. Bane makes the curse ramp take longer ( ramp up time becomes more than 6 seconds due to bane's curse penalty ), which means that in reality, you will have a bit more damage than the numbers shown in PoB. *** I don't put Curse Duration Expired on Enemy = 4, because the math for bane might result in that duration being something around 3.4 -3.6 seconds or other numbers that aren't integers ( the game has a tendency to downgrade numbers to the closest integer value ) *** -----PoB 3----- 5 deaths total at lvl 82 - mercenaries became too op in maps ( be aware of physical slam skills, they one shot tricksters! ) - added new ring, new life flask, new boots Price: Daggers - 2c total Vaal Caress - 1c unique New boots - 1c + 3c on implicits = 4c ( not necessary to add implicits, yet ) Other gear - SSF gear -----PoB 4----- Death counter: 11 -> certain mercs just one shot, or juicy expeditions with hits can't be evaded Working towards double curse setup with bane + fated end. Took the caster mastery that opens chest ( super useful in expeditions ). Runegrafted the most op mastery for OG Cold DoT: Gain 1 Vaal Soul per second -> Cost: 30c -> makes Vaal Cold snap super consistent in maps and later on it can become a reliable frenzy charge generation tool during boss fights The mastery for daggers solo carries early progression and even the endgame. I get 20% suppress with some movement speed and much needed attack speed for whirling blades. -> I almost have capped suppression with no investment in gear! This is the moment to upgrade the character ( ES swap if possible ). Red maps are punishing and damage fell off.